2026 team-designated support
Each project that Cycle for Survival funds advances progress toward new and more effective ways to diagnose, treat, and cure people with rare cancers. These MSK researchers were chosen by teams to receive funding in the areas specified below from the $38 million raised during Cycle for Survival’s 2026 season.
Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, JD, MBA, PhD
Gastrointestinal Cancer
David Abramson, MD
Chief of the Ophthalmic Oncology Service in the Department of Surgery
Ophthalmology, Pediatric Cancer
Nadeem Abu-Rustum, MD
Chief of the Gynecology Service; Founder’s Chair
Gynecology Service
Cristina Antonescu, MD
Director of Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology
Pediatric Cancer
Mark Awad, MD, PhD
Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service
Thoracic Cancer
Vinod Balachandran, MD
Director of the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK; Hutham S. Olayan and Robert F. Raucci Chair
Cancer Vaccines
Lauren Baker Banks, MD, PhD
TIL Therapy Trial
Julia Glade Bender, MD
Vice Chair for Clinical Research
Pediatric Sarcoma
Lisa Bodei, MD, PhD
Director of Targeted Radionuclide Therapy
Theranostics
Adrienne Boire, MD, PhD
Scientific Director of the Alan and Sandra Gerry Metastasis and Tumor Ecosystems Center; Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chair
Brain Cancer, Neurology
Andrea Cercek, MD
Head of the Colorectal Cancer Section; Co-Director of the Center for Young Onset Colorectal and Gastrointestinal Cancer; Ford Family Chair
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Dennis Chi, MD
Deputy Chief of the Gynecology Service; Head of Ovarian Cancer Surgery in the Department of Surgery; Ronald O. Perelman Chair in Gynecologic Surgery
Gynecologic Cancer
Louise Catherine Connell, MB BCh BAO, BMedSc
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Sandra D’Angelo, MD
Sarcoma Immunotherapy Research
Mark Dickson, MD
Sarcoma
Ira Dunkel, MD
Pediatric Cancer
Jonathan Fainberg, MD, MPH
Urology Service
Darren Feldman, MD
Head of the Germ Cell Cancer Section
Gynecologic Cancer, Urologic Cancer
Michael Foote, MD
Rectal Cancer
Christopher Forlenza, MD
Pediatric Cancer
Karuna Ganesh, MD, PhD
Rectal Cancer
Sergio Giralt, MD
Deputy Head of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies; Chief Medical Officer of MSK Direct; Melvin Berlin Family Chair in Multiple Myeloma
Blood Cancer
Mrinal Gounder, MD
Physician Ambassador to India and Asia
CIC-DUX4 Research
Rachel Grisham, MD
Head of the Ovarian Cancer Section; Director of Gynecologic Medical Oncology at MSK Westchester
Ovarian Cancer
James Harding, MD
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Alan Ho, MD, PhD
Chief of the Head and Neck Oncology Service
Head and Neck Cancer
Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue, MD, PhD
Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Research; David M. Rubenstein Chair
Pancreatic Cancer
Gopa Iyer, MD
Head of Bladder Cancer Section
Early Drug Development
Yelena Janjigian, MD
Chief of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service; Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair
Esophageal Cancer
William Jarnagin, MD
Chief of the Hepatobiliary Service; Leslie H. Blumgart Chair in Surgery
Hepatobiliary Cancer
Yasmin Khakoo, MD
Director of the Child Neurology Program
Pediatric Cancer
T. Peter Kingham, MD
Director of the Global Cancer Research and Training Program
Hepatobiliary Cancer
Christopher Klebanoff, MD
Member Investigator in the Center for Cell Engineering
Sarcoma Immunotherapy Research
Andrew Kung, MD, PhD
Chair of the Department of Pediatrics; Lila Acheson Wallace Chair for Pediatric Research
Medulloblastoma, Neuroblastoma, Osteosarcoma, Pediatric Cancer
Brian Kushner, MD
Neuroblastoma, Neuroblastoma Bivalent Vaccine Trial
Heather Landau, MD
Director of the Amyloidosis Program
Blood Cancer
Michael La Quaglia, MD
Joseph H. Burchenal Chair in Pediatrics
Pediatric Cancer
Nancy Lee, MD
Vice Chair of Academic Affairs and Experimental Therapeutics in the Department of Radiation Oncology; Chief of the Head and Neck Radiation Oncology Service; Chief of the Proton Therapy Service
Gynecologic Cancer
Ross Levine, MD
Chief Scientific Officer; Edward P. Evans Endowed Chair for MDS
Blood Cancer
Jason Lewis, PhD
Deputy Director of the Sloan Kettering Institute (Office of Science Education and Training); Scientific Director of the Radiochemistry and Molecular Imaging Probe Core Facility; Emily Tow Chair in Oncology
Theranostics
Robert Maki, MD, PhD
Leiomyosarcoma
Vicky Makker, MD
Head of the Endometrial Cancer Program Section; Director of the Hematology-Medical Oncology Fellowship Training Program
Gynecologic Cancer
Ingo Mellinghoff, MD
Chair of the Department of Neurology; Evnin Family Chair in Neuro-Oncology
Brain Cancer
Daniela Molena, MD
Director of the Esophageal Surgery Program
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Carol Morris, MD, MS
Chief of the Orthopaedic Surgery Service; Jack Byrne Chair for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers
Orthopedic Service
Sujana Movva, MD
Sarcoma
Garrett Nash, MD, MPH
Vice President of Quality and Safety
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Michael Offin, MD
Co-Director of the Mesothelioma Program
Mesothelioma
Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH
Director of the Robert and Kate Niehaus Center for Inherited Cancer Genomics; Vice Chair of Academic Affairs in the Department of Medicine; Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics
Gynecologic Cancer
Eileen O’Reilly, MD
Chair of the Human Research Protection Program and Institutional Review Board; Co-Director of Medical Initiatives at the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research; Head of the Hepatopancreaticobiliary and Neuroendocrine Cancers Section; Winthrop Rockefeller Chair of Medical Oncology
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Michael Ortiz, MD
Pediatric Cancer
Luis F. Parada, PhD
Director of the Brain Tumor Center; Albert C. Foster Chair
Brain Cancer
Philip Paty, MD
Talcott Chair for Clinical Excellence
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Michael Postow, MD
Chief of the Melanoma Service; Co-Director of the Melanoma Disease Management Team
Skin Cancer
Daniel Prince, MD, MPH
Pediatric Cancer
Nitya Raj, MD
Vice Chair of Quality Assurance in the Department of Medicine; Medical Site Director of the Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Damon Reed, MD
Chief of the Pediatric Sarcoma Service; Head of the Pediatric Solid Tumors Division; Robbins Family Chair in Pediatrics
Osteosarcoma
Gregory Riely, MD, PhD
Vice Chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine; Ning Zhao and Ge Li Endowed Chair in Lung Cancer Research
Thymoma
Paul Romesser, MD
Director of Colorectal and Anal Cancer in the Department of Radiation Oncology
Rectal Cancer
Jonathan Rosenberg, MD
Chief of the Genitourinary Oncology Service in the Division of Solid Tumor Oncology; Enno W. Ercklentz, Jr. Chair
Bladder Cancer
Veronica Rotemberg, MD, PhD
Director of the Dermatology Informatics Program
Melanoma Service, Skin Cancer
Alison Schram, MD
Gynecology Service, Ovarian Cancer
Jatin Shah, MD
Elliot W. Strong Chair in Head and Neck Oncology
Head and Neck Cancer
Sohrab Shah, PhD
Chief of Computational Oncology in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Scientific Director of the Halvorsen Center for Computational Oncology; Nicholls-Biondi Chair
Gynecologic Cancer
Emily Slotkin, MD
Pediatric Sarcoma
David Solit, MD
Director of the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology; Geoffrey Beene Chair
Make-an-IMPACT
Eytan Stein, MD
Chief of the Leukemia Service; Director of the Program for Drug Development in Leukemia in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies
Blood Cancer
Viviane Tabar, MD
Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery; Theresa Feng Chair in Neurosurgery
DIPG, Glioblastoma
William Tap, MD
Chief of the Sarcoma Medical Oncology Service
Personalized Sarcoma Vaccine, Sarcoma
Meghan Thompson, MD
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Rohit Thummalapalli, MD
Gastrointestinal Cancer
Saad Usmani, MD, MBA
Chief of the Myeloma Service
Multiple Myeloma
Britta Weigelt, PhD
Director of the Gynecology Disease Management Team Research Laboratory
Gynecologic Cancer
Leonard Wexler, MD
Pediatric Cancer
Kenny Yu, MBBS, PhD
Glioblastoma
Etay Ziv, MD, PhD
Neuroendocrine Tumors